"Richard Appleby" wrote in message
...
Wadsworth wrote:

snip

"The problem with designing something completely foolproof is to
under
estimate the ingenuity of a complete fool." - Douglas Adams


I'm with Alan and ARWadsworth on this one. Anyone stupid enough to
try
doing unnatural things with stuff that's there to protect them,
that
they don't understand, deserves everything that they get. Even if
its
ultimately a Darwin Award

At the end of the day any system that depends for its safety on
measures
that are accessible to "idiots" is going to be compromised, for the
reasons articulated by Mr Adams. Personally my view is that we need
to
do our best to make the system totally safe for the average user
who
follows the rules, and make it very difficult for the average DIYer
to
mess up.

However, we are unlikely to ever be able to cope with the lunatic
fringe
who are actively trying to circumvent the safety systems, and we
probably shouldn't even try ...


The point is, it doesn't need a lunatic, let the person who has never
put the wrong fuse in a BS1363 plug just get things working cast the
first stone, let the person who then remembers to replace it A.S.A.P
cast the second...

Nothing can be made completely foolproof, but requiring more than a
cheap tea-spoon to access the fuse in a moulded on BS1363 plug is not
even trying. There are people changing fuses in plugs who know
nothing about electrics and are clueless as to the importance of the
fuse or it's rating.